After being fed by Enna's cooking, she cleans the dirty dishes at the kitchen. Shouya insists himself on helping her with the dishes. She agrees and both of them start washing the dishes.

"Again, thanks for the food. It was really good."

"Hehe, thanks! You know, I wasn't just an ordinary girl who sells flowers and pottery. I was a Grade-A chef back in the day."

"Really? So that's why the food looks and tastes good. Guess your customers have been pushing your limits, huh?"

"Oh, I really wouldn't say that. I've also made food for soldiers and treated their wounds from their injuries from the battlefield when I was your age."

"Wait, battlefield? You were in the military?"

"Well, former. Now I'm a wife of the man I love, mother of two children, and the owner of the best flower store in Vincilos for sixteen years straight."

"That's kind of detailed information you got there, but I can see why."

"Oh, that reminds me. I've got to give you a room to stay in. Here, follow me. Oh, and you don't worry about the remaining dishes, I'll finish them for you."

Leaving the dishes aside, Enna escorts Shouya from the kitchen and to the hall. From there, he sees a split path, two doors on the left and three doors on the right. They took a right and passed the first door, which was the bathroom. They both stand in front of the second door, the room that is across the bathroom, and Enna opens it.

Inside the small room, there are layers of fertilizer being stacked on top of each other, including some of already-made potteries that are displayed on the shelves, and a couple of wooden crates right next to each other.

"Here's what you'll be staying for the night. It's not much, but that's all I can give you."

"It's alright. You don't have to worry about it."

Even if the room is a bit cramped, Shouya shrugs it off, as if he doesn't mind it so much. Enna picks up something from the selves. He sees a familiar rolled up fabric that Enna has with her. Then she places it on the floor and pushes it, unrolling the sheet of fabric and turning it into a futon.

"So I guess that's what I'll be sleeping?"

"That's right. Is something wrong?"

"N-Not at all. I'm fine with this. I was already used to this back home, so it's not a problem for me."

"If there's anything you would need, feel free to let me know, okay? Anyways, goodnight."

"G-Goodnight."

Enna closes the door and leaves the room, leaving Shouya alone in the dark room with the futon under him. Shouya gets on the floor and wraps himself with it.

The family here ain't that bad, they're nice, actually. They give me food, a place to stay, and they're being so kind to me, even when I make the smallest mistakes. Never thought I'd say this, but this is paradise.

A nice home to live in, some delicious food he ate, and people that didn't question or judge his consequence. It is like his dream has come true after all.

Shouya wanted to give himself a joyful smile as he had got everything that he wanted.

However...

But why...?

His expression quickly changed from optimistic and positive to doubtful and uncertain, and to feeling depressed and sorrow.

He got everything he wanted; he got people that are on his side and they support him from trouble whenever he needs, so he should be happy.

But why am I not feeling happy about this?

Even though he is expressing joy, somehow, he doesn't feel like he was truly happy. Trying to hold back his tears, Shouya covers his eyes with his hand. But he couldn't hold it in as a single tear ran across his face.

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

"Alright you two, have a goodnight."

"Goodnight papa."

"Night night papa."

After both of the kids say their goodnight to their father, Gin quietly closes the door and heads silently to the room where he sees Enna is in bed, wearing a maple orange nightgown in front of him.

"Alright, I got the kids in bed, so they should be sleeping now. How's the boy?"

"He said that he doesn't mind the room. But do you think it's a good idea for me to let him sleep there? I kinda feel guilty for him. Maybe I should've let him sleep on the couch or a comfortable bed instead. Do you think he'll hate me for giving him a bad room? Ohhh, I'm a terrible hostess."

"Your habit is showing again."

"Bwah!"

As Gin playfully mentions Enna's habit, she covers her face with her hands as she was embarrassed by her own self-doubt of taking care of Shouya. But since Gin knows her for a long time, he knows how to calm her down—at least to an extent.

"You know, I've been wondering, why did you want to hire him in the first place?"

"Oh..."

When she heard his question, Enna removed her hands from her face as she made a gentle smile.

"He reminds me of you. You know, back when you and I first met back in our time in the military. He has that same fire on his eyes, just like yours."

"I see..."

"Plus, you were so shy that you jumbled your words a bit."

"H-Hey! It was my first time talking to a lady, and we were young back then, I didn't know what to say."

Gin became flustered as both he and Enna reminisced about their time when they were in the military. Then, both of them joyfully laughed together.

"It has been sixteen years, hasn't it? Sixteen years since we've married?"

"Yeah, it has. I still remember the day that you proposed to me after the war ended. Those were the times."

"Ah, yes. I've also remembered you wanted to have kids so we can start a family. To be honest, I was shocked when you first said that to me. I wasn't sure that we were ready for kids."

"But we pulled it off, did we?"

"Mhm. We made the right choice."

Sixteen years since they have been together ever since; with all the fighting and bloodshed they had witnessed from the war, it was a dark era of their time. Now that the war has been subdued, they can finally live in a peaceful life as a family. It was a choice that they didn't regret.

After taking a trip down memory lane, Gin laid his back on the bed, being close to his adoring wife Enna.

"Surely tomorrow we're gonna fix up your shop. Can't say what is going to happen after."

"You'll just leave one that to me. Believe me, I can work my way around, so don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Nothing is going to make us separate from each other. Besides, me, Shouya, and the kids will take care of things at the store. So just relax, okay?"

Gin is a bit concerned about the situation about Enna and her store, but Enna gently holds his large hand, easing his worries away. Gin calms down a little and gives a joyful smile to her as he understands what she is saying.

"...Alright."

"Great! Now let's—"

"AAAAHHH!!"

Before Enna could finish what she was about to say, they heard a loud scream, as if it was coming from outside of the room.

"Was that—?!"

"I don't know, but stay here!"

Gin quickly got off from the bed and ran off the room, finding the source of where the scream comes from. From there, he sees the children's room door open and heads straight towards it.

"Jakki! Gina!"

He surveys the room to see if the children are around. But unfortunately, they don't seem to be in the room.

"Hey, what's going on?"

While Gin tries to search for them, Shouya appears right in front of him, wanting to know what is happening. It seems like Gin isn't the only one who heard it; everyone that is inside the house heard Jakki's scream.

"Mama! Papa!"

It wasn't before long that they heard another one, it was Gina. Both Gin and Shouya reacted when they heard the scream coming from.

"It's coming from downstairs. C'mon, let's go!"

"R-Right!"

With no time to waste, they quickly rush towards the source to where the screaming came from and save both of his children.

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

Gina sees her brother, Jakki, rolling around on the bed, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep. But every time he twisted and turned his body, he couldn't get himself to sleep.

"Can't sleep?"

"Mhm... Oh, I know."

He gets up and leaps off the bed as he heads to the door. His sister, Gina, questions what he is going to do.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get a cup of milk. That'll maybe help me get to sleep."

"You can't go out. You'll get in trouble."

"I'll be fine. I'll just get a cup of milk and bring it back here."

"What about mama and papa? Don't you have to ask them first?"

"I don't want to bother them while they're sleeping, so I'll go get it myself. Don't worry, I'll make sure not to wake mama and papa up."

Jakki is confident that he'll get himself a cup of milk without disturbing their parents, but Gina is a little bit concerned about her brother as his idea is a bit dumb for not asking their parents first, but she decides to go along with it, responding it with "...Okay."

He slowly opens the door and peeks his head out through the door to see if either his mother or his father are outside of the room. Surely enough, neither of them are in sight. He sees a light shining behind the intervals of the door. This must've meant that both of his parents are in their room.

Jakki sneakily heads through the halls and into the kitchen. With his small, dog-like feet, he was able to go through the hall without making a single creak. From there, he sees the refrigerator and opens the door; as he opens the door, he sees various contents that are inside: water, vegetables, and leftover food that they had during dinner. He moved the contents to the side until he spotted a large white container inside. He carefully pulls out the container and manages to take out the refrigerator without hitting the items.

"Ugh, it's heavy."

The container of milk was so heavy that a child like him isn't capable of lifting it; he would need someone older than him to fully lift a gallon of milk, but he can manage to lift it all by himself without any help.

Jakki places the container of milk on top of the table and searches the sink for a cup to hold the milk in. He grabs the cup and brings it to where the milk is and places it on the table. He carefully pours the milk into the cup, trying not to make a mess on the table. Luckily, he didn't make a single mess on the table.

After he was done pouring, he placed the container back in the refrigerator. He took a sip of the milk from the cup and gave a refreshing "ahh" as he headed to his room where his sister is.

However...

"Huh?"

Before he could return to his room, he heard a strange noise coming from downstairs; it sounded like someone was talking, but he couldn't hear it clearly as the door muffled the noise from the other side. Instead of heading back to his room, Jakki heads downstairs with the cup of milk with him.

He cautiously opens the door—but slightly—to get a peek what is going on, trying not to get noticed. There were two mysterious men dressed in dark clothes. And even though Jakki can barely see them in the dark, he can vividly tell by the way they look.

One is a cat-like beast-man with all-black fur. He wore full-on dark-blue clothes to camouflage in the night, black fingerless gloves on his white hands, and a black mask to cover his mouth with it.

The other, unlike his beast-human friend, he is an elf with brown hair and large pointy ears. He wore some sort of mossy green tunic with a black cowl and a single breastplate over it on the left side of his chest.

"Ugh, the smell of flowers and pollen, I hate it. Remind me again why we agreed to do this?"

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Because Vikov ordered us to execute the plan for Darmac. Tell me, if you knew that if it's going to be a flower store, then why do you want to join me? I could've done all of this by myself without you, you know."

"Well since they mentioned they run a store, so I thought that I wanted to join in with ya. Besides, I don't want you to take all the goods by yourself."

"And if they don't have anything that is valuable for you to take? It would be a waste if you come here for nothing."

"Eh, at least I'll get something good out of it. Hey, go check over there and do whatever it is that you did."

"It's called lockpicking."

The elf man waves his hand and says "yeah, yeah" as he attempts to pry open the cash register with a crowbar while the cat-man lockpicks the door that is next to the register. That is probably how they entered the store in the first place; they used the cat-man's lockpicking skills to unlock the door without alerting anyone—including Jakki's parents, who own this store.

The elf, with the crowbar in hand, opens the register and he quietly blurs out "Hell yeah!" and steals the money from the register into the bag.

"Quiet you idiot!"

"Sorry, can't help it. Are you done in your end?"

As the elf-man asked that question, the cat-man unlocks the door and opens the door in front of him.

"It's done."

"Good. I hope there's something valuable in there."

Both of the thieves went downstairs to attempt to steal something. While that's happening, Jakki, who is witnessing this happening in his own home, is frightened by this.

"W-W-Why are bad people invading our homes again?"

This was the second time that Jakki and his family's home was invaded by thugs. He couldn't do anything but cower in fear when Clugil and his crew ransacked the place and took his sister as a hostage. He was defenseless. He didn't have the courage to save his own sister, to save his own mother.

"I...I need to tell mama and papa!"

Before he can, he pauses for a bit. He thought back to what Shouya had done and to what his father had done. They fought back to do what was right; they protected them because it was the right thing to do.

"N-No! I need to do this! Mister Shouya and papa fought the bad guys before. I...I don't wanna run anymore!"

Instead of running away to warn either Shouya or his parents, Jakki heads straight towards the danger to face his fears. He heads straight towards the door and goes down the narrow stairs as he follows the thugs behind them. He makes sure to keep his distance between him and the thugs so he doesn't get spotted.

Upon reaching the lower level, the two men stopped in the center of the dark room and surveyed the area to see something that is worth stealing. However, the room lacks any light to see anything in the room.

"Ugh, it's dark and muggy in here. Turn on the light!"

"Quit your complaining, I'm already on it. Luckily you have a magic user with you, otherwise, you couldn't see anything here."

"Just light the room already!"

Sighed in annoyance, the cat-man snapped his finger and said "Valun" as he cast some sort of a small ball of light floating on top of his hand. The light illuminates the room and sees a number of items that are stored in this room.

As the light shines the room from darkness, the elf searches the room for something valuable.

"Hmm... Seeds, pots, food, and clay? Damn it, where are the goods? This room has nothing but worthless shit."

"Just relax. Maybe not in this room, but maybe upstairs."

"Ooh, maybe you're right. They are bound to have some really valuable shit there. And maybe we get to kill this 'Gin' guy and the rest of his family."

"—!"

Jakki's expression becomes horrified when the brown-haired elf mentions that they're going to kill him and his family. Responding to what the elf had said, the cat-man hits him in the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You idiot! Have you forgotten? Darmac ordered he wants him alive, so you're not allowed to kill him. You may kill witnesses that stand in the way, but not him."

"That sucks... But what's the deal with this guy, anyway? He acts like he knows him somehow."

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. Right now, we're going as planned. The three simple steps Darmac gave us."

The cat-man raises his hand in front of the brown-haired elf before counting his fingers one-by-one, starting with his index finger.

"Step 1: Capture the man named Gin. He's our primary target. Step 2: We take him to our base and we show him to Darmac and the boss. And lastly, step 3: We burn this place down. No one will ever notice that we did it and it'll look like an accident. Taking what's valuable here are just bonuses so that we can sell them for a great number of ercos."

"Damn... His ideas are insane. Never thought that he would go that far just to bring one guy to him. Even going as far as killing the entire family."

"As much I hate to admit it, but that plan was indeed inhumane. I would have wished that there were no children involved in this. It goes against my creed."

"Oho? Having a soft spot for children? Never thought you were a parenting type. Got a child of your own? What's their name?"

"Just shut up. All's due when the mission is done. Anyways, I'm going to summon the oil here."

The cat-man made some strange hand gestures and he chanted "Igzun Quynga". Then, a bright purple circle casts in front of them, summoning two pairs of large wooden barrels that are filled with oil inside.

What they had said wasn't a lie; they were ill-intent to burn down the store along with the family—including Jakki, himself—that are inside. This was the plan that should not exist in the first place.

"—!!"

After hearing about their plan, Jakki, out of fear, accidentally drops his cup, splattering the milk all over on the stairs.

"What was that?"

"Eep!"

The sound of the cup crashing down the steps alerted the two thugs. He picked up the cup from the floor, but it was too late. They looked at where the source came from and they finally saw him.

"Damnit, we've been spotted! We gotta take him out, quick!"

"Hold it, Donga!"

Before the brown-haired elf—whose name is apparently Donga—was about to take some sort of a dagger behind his back, but the cat-man stops him from doing so.

"What the hell Korovin? The kid heard and saw us. He needs to be dealt with before he tells everyone."

"No. I've got a better solution."

The cat-man, whose name is Korovin, came up with a devious idea to resolve the situation. He leisurely walks towards the frightened child.

"You heard all of that, did you, boy?"

"..."

"How about we make a deal? But don't worry. This is a very simple task that you will do."

"A...a..."

Jakki is too hesitant to even say anything. He doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know if he can say anything. Compared to his encounter with Clugil, this is the most frightening moment for him, so frightening that he could wet his pants at any moment.

Korovin crouched down in front of the frightened child to his face level. Even though the room is too dark to see, Jakki can see the cat-man's neon green cat-like eyes.

"If you cooperate with us, I can assure you, you and your family will live."

"Hey, you can't just—"

But before Donga can continue to say anything, Korovin raised his hand at him, as if he's telling him I'm not finished. Then, he looks back at Jakki.

"But if you don't help us, then you, your family, and those who are close to you will die. So if you cooperate with us, I'm sure that any harm that involves you will be prevented."

"Y-You bad people already came to our home. W-W-Why do you want with p-papa?"

"Oh, don't take us the wrong way. Sure they can be idiots, but we're not like those fools who came before us. They always use such disgusting words or use underhanded tricks that could ruin our reputation. As a result, he was dealt with some...punishments. So luckily for you, little child. You don't have to worry about them coming here. At least for now."

Despite that they're in the same group, Korovin dismisses Clugil and his gang as if they had nothing to do with them and they're not involved with this situation. Judging from what he had said, he can feel slightly relieved that some of his problems are dealt with. However...

"But as your father, well, we really need him to be in our base to meet with our leader."

"—Aah!"

He placed his sharp claws in front of Jakki's face, but only by a centimeter. With the tip of his claws, he caressed softly and slowly on his face; starting from the top of his muzzle, to the top of the forehead, then all the way down his throat, passing his cheek, and then coming up to the tip of his chin, as he closed in on dog-boy's face with his soft and cold voice.

The feel of the cat-man's sharp claws touching his face and his voice resonating his ears sends a chill down his spine.

"But don't worry, little child. I'm not going to harm either you or your mother and sister. If you give us your father, we promise that we'll go away from here and lie to the Blue Sharks while your family can resume living a normal life without us bothering you."

Korovin is using fear to his advantage to convince Jakki to turn over his father to the Blue Sharks. If he does agree to this deal, they'll let his mother and sister live, but he'll be sacrificing his own father if he does so.

Jakki is just a small, young child; giving the choices to him gives him a sense of anxiety and fear that he doesn't know what to do anymore. He is just an eight-year-old boy and he couldn't tell the difference between what's right and what's wrong, so he has the right to be afraid. If he gave an answer to the person who asked him, he won't know the outcome of the situation.

Korovin pulled back his own hand from Jakki's face and pulled the mask out from his face, revealing a snow white fur around his muzzle, and he gave a smile on his face, as if he was trying to be friendly with him—or at least acting like one.

"So, do we have an agreement?"

All of the courage that Jakki had been built up previously has been dropped drastically. He had made a grave mistake by coming down and followed them in the first place. If he had told his sister, or even his parents, that some strangers were about to do something awful, they would've bought it and driven them out of their home and kept their family safe. Instead, he did something reckless, and he regretted making that decision.

"I...I..."

"Gah!"

Out of nowhere, a flowerpot was thrown from behind Jakki and smashed onto Kotovn's head.

"Jakki, run!"

He listens to his sister and turns around to see his sister Gina and quickly runs up the stairs.

"You're not going anywhere, kid!"

While Korovin was stunned, the elf-man, Donga, chased towards the running child to attempt to capture him.

Jakki was halfway towards the exit to where his sister was. But before he could run any further, he trips and collapses on the stairs. He felt something that was grabbing his leg. It was Donga who grabbed Jakki's leg to prevent him from running any further.

While he was grabbing Jakki's leg with one hand, he pulled out something from another. He pulled out a crowbar that was behind his back.

"You're mine!"

"No!"

To release from his grip, he had thrown the cup of milk that he was holding, which contained a little bit of milk lift, at the man who was holding his leg.

"Bwah!"

This causes Donga to let go of Jakki's leg as the milk has gotten to his eyes. Then, Jakki kicks him in the abdomen and sends him rolling down the stairs, colliding with Korovin and sending them down back to the basement.

"Jakki!"

He successfully reached the top of the stairs and both Jakki and Gina quickly closed the door in front of them.

"We gotta get mama and papa here, quick!"

"O-Okay!"

They quickly head towards the door to try to get their parents to fend off the thieves who tried to capture them. But before they could, a sharp blade broke through the door and the door started to break apart.

"You're not getting away that easily!"

"AAAAHHH!!"

Both of the children screamed by the top of their lungs as they saw the elf-man wielding an ax on his hand. Donga ran towards them and made a wide swinging arch to attempt to attack them, but both Jakki and Gina quickly dodged the attack and split up. He started to chase towards the boy who kicked him down the stairs, Jakki.

"I'm going to gut you up, boy!"

"Aahhh! Aahhh! Aahhh! AAAHHH!!"

Donga keeps on swinging his ax vigorously to try to cut Jakki. Jakki quickly dodges his attacks, avoiding touching the sharp blade. With each and every swing he makes, he keeps on missing his target. Of course, due to Jakki's small appearance, he was faster and agile than his attacker.

"Stand still you damn runt! Haa!"

He continued to chase after Jakki until he quickly ran under the table before being swung by his ax. Even though he has managed to evade his attacks, however, it'll only hold him for a short time. He couldn't hide from him for long.

Jakki crawled to the second table before Donga destroyed the first table to clear his way. Then, he crawled to the third and final table before the second one got destroyed. He ended up in a dead end as the wall was obstructing his escape. Using his ax, Donga smashes the table away from him. Jakki was only left terrified

"Nowhere to go, kid."

"Leave my brother alone!"

As Donga was about to kill Jakki, Gina saved his life by throwing a flower pot at him and smashed it on his head. This gives Jakki enough time to escape, but before he can do that...

"Yaow!"

Donga cried out a yelp as the small child punched him between the legs. The punch was so hard that he was already on his knees, thriving in pain. They wanted to cheer themselves for a job well done, but it was too early to celebrate just yet.

"Aaahh!"

Suddenly, Korovin appears behind Gina and grabs her by the arm. Jakki shouts "Let her go!" as he tries to get him to let go of his sister by hitting him in his leg with his small hands, but he feels nothing. He kicks the child with the same leg and sends him crashing into the wall.

"Mama! Papa!"

"I apologize that we had to do this, but we had no other choice. So please, forgive our sins after we're done with this."

He made a light chop at the little girl's neck, causing him to knock her out in the process.

"You should've killed them, you know? They've seen our faces. They'll spill out information."

"Are you daft?! I do not kill children! That goes against my—"

"I don't care! I don't give a shit about your creed or whatnot, we cannot have any witnesses alive, even if they're just a bunch of dumb kids!"

Donga picks up the ax that he dropped from the floor and approaches the little boy with his ax in hand.

"This is what you get you damn brat!"

He raises his weapon over his head in front of the child. Then, in a large arch, he uses his ax to swing at the child going for the kill.

"Puah!"

But before he can, a large lavender-furred wolf-man punched him across the room, saving the little boy's life.

"Papa!"

"Are you okay Jakki?"

"Mhm. But Senna..."

He points at her and Gin looks at the cat-man Korovin who is holding the unconscious Sena. Meanwhile, Donga runs towards him as he prepares for an attack with his ax.

"You bastard! You'll pay for tha—"

Just before Donga can use his ax to attack Gin, without giving enough time to react, Gin gives a quick and heavy punch to the body and sends him flying through the glass of the window and lands on the streets of Vincilos.

"Get your hands off of my girl!"

"D-Damn it!"

Enraged, Gin runs towards the cat-man who is holding his daughter. Korovin attempts to escape to avoid conflict against him. However, his legs couldn't let him move.

"Wh-What the—? Let go of me!"

What weighed him down was Shouya holding down Korovin's leg, preventing him from escaping Gin's attack. Gin grabs on Korovin's head as he let's go of Gina. Shouya was quickly able to catch her before her head collided with the wooden floor. He throws Korovin out the window as his body collides with Donga.

After he threw them out of the store, he looked at his daughter in Shouya's arms and kneels down in front of them.

"Gina!"

Worried about his daughter's health, Gin tried to call out her name to gain a response from her, but she didn't appear to open her eyes. Shouya placed his hand in front of her face and felt a warm breath breathing on his hand.

"She's fine. She's just knocked out, that's all."

Hearing that, this gives Gin a sigh of relief. However, he quickly looks back at the trespassers who are outside on the street.

"Take care of them for me."

"A...All right."

Even though Shouya acknowledges that he'll protect the kids, he can sense a cold air surrounding Gin as he looks at his enemies and walks towards them.

"Grr! Who do you think you are, you bastard? No matter. It's two of us against one of him. You're at a disadvantage! And hey, don't compare us to those stooges you fought before! We're five-times stronger than them."

Ignoring what Donga had said, Gin continued to walk towards the intruders as he hopped over the frame in front of him and landed on the shattered glass that is on the ground. Anyone would've been cautious on where they're stepping when they're barefooted, Gin, however, didn't feel any pain beneath the soles of his feet.

It could be that he is either null to the pain, or he is just too angry that he ignores the glass under him. Either way, he still sets his eyes on the two men in front of him.

"Well bring it on you mutt!"

With his ax dragging on the stone pavement, Donga runs straight into Gin as he prepares to attack him with a wide slash. Gin jumped over the attack and began to counterattack with a flying-spinning kick to his face.

"Nue Guita!"

"Wa—?!"

A pair of black chains appears behind Gin and attached to the ankles of his legs. He trips to the ground and begins to pull him into Korovin, who had cast the chains in front of him behind two magic circles floating in front of it. Gin tries to claw the ground to stop the movement, but the chains are too strong to slow him down.

Upon drawing closer to Korovin, Gin sees a loose brick on the ground. He picks up the brick and throws it at Korovin, hitting his right shoulder. It made the magical chains disappear, letting his legs freed. Having freed himself from his bind, he decided to charge at the magic-user Korovin, who chanted "Valun" as several fireballs were thrown at him like missiles. Gin dodged most of them, but only to have the last three hit him directly.

"Gin!"

Shouya shouts out his name from inside the store, but he couldn't see him from the smoke, so he wasn't sure if Gin is alive or not.

"—!"

Suddenly, he emerged from the smoke with not a single scratch on him and ran full speed towards Korovin. He quickly shouts "Redigar!" as he casts a small magical barrier in between the both of them before Gin could even hit him. But Gin continues to push through.

"Guyun Tatorra!"

His fists started to glow a tint of orange as he called out a chant and the barrier started to break and went through the barrier. Korovin was flabbergasted that a single man broke through his magical barrier with his bare hands. Gin puts all his strength to his fist with all his might and punches Korovin in the solar plexus, sending him flying and crashing into a stand from a store, knocking him out.

"Damn you!"

Coming from behind Gin, Donga charges towards him with his ax to attempt to get a clean hit on him. Before he can, Gin caught the blade of the ax with his bare hands.

"Who sent you?"

"Why would you want to know that? You can find answers over my dead body!"

"Hmph! Fine, then. Then I'll have to do this. Guyun Tatorra!

The next thing happened, Donga's ax shattered in front of him by Gin's imaginable strength. He was so strong that the ax broke into pieces with just his bare hands.

"What?!"

Bewildered by what had happened to his weapon, he is vulnerable for Gin to unleash his attack on him. Gin clasped his hands together and used his strength to make an uppercut, launching him into the air, sending him flying until he crashed back down to the ground.

He had defeated the two of them without leaving a single scratch. Compared to the fight that he had fought before, this one was the easiest. Probably it was either the fight that took place outdoors, or the enemies were easier to fight against. Either way, he had managed to save his family again.

Gin approached the fallen Donga who was laying on the stone pavement and grabbed him by the collar of his tunic.

"Wait wait wait! Don't kill me! I was doing what I was told! I have no intention to kill anyone, I was in it just for the money! If you have a problem with that, take it to the boss, it was his idea! But please, spare me!"

"Tell this to your boss that if he comes and hurts my family, I'll come and hunt him down."

"You don't have to, 'cus he's already here!"

A loud booming voice echoed in their ears as they responded to what Gin was saying. He looks up to see a cerulean blue wolf-man at the rooftop of the building.

"—! Is that—"

"Ura!"

Before Gin could continue with what he wants to say, the blue wolf-man jumps off of the rooftop and heads towards the two men with a winding punch. Gin quickly dodged before he could hit him, so instead, blue wolf-man punched the ground with full force.

The punch was so strong that it left a large crater in the middle of the street. They could even feel the earth moving.

"Bwah!"

Shouya cried out as he and the kids took cover from the debris scattered around them. This powerful foe is a force to be reckoned with.

The blue wolf-man darted his eyes at Gin and gave a wide grin to him. However, Gin's face says the opposite as he gave a cautious look to someone with whom he was familiar.

"Darmac..."

"It been a while, hasn't it... Ginny?"